The twilight of the physical letter

Opinion The FT ViewThe twilight of the physical letterEnd of deliveries by Denmark’s mail service bodes ill for the epistolary formThe editorial boardAdd to myFTGet instant alerts for this topicManage your delivery channels hereRemove from myFTPostNord’s red mailboxes are being removed from Denmark, where letter volumes have declined by 90 per cent in recent decades © Ronny Morgner/AlamyThe twilight of the physical letter on x (opens in a new window)The twilight of the physical letter on facebook (opens in a new window)The twilight of the physical letter on linkedin (opens in a new window)The twilight of the physical letter on whatsapp (opens in a new window) Save The twilight of the physical letter on x (opens in a new window)The twilight of the physical letter on facebook (opens in a new window)The twilight of the physical letter on linkedin (opens in a new window)The twilight of the physical letter on whatsapp (opens in a new window) Save The editorial boardPublishedDecember 12 2025Jump to comments sectionPrint this pageUnlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Less than two weeks before Christmas, Danes are sending their last Christmas cards. Not their last for this year, but the last ever to be delivered by the national postal service. From the year-end, PostNord — which traces its history in Denmark back to 1624 — will cease carrying letters and handle only packages. Denmark will surely not be the last country to end home letter deliveries by a national carrier. It is a step that portends something bigger: the twilight of the physical letter itself.Letters will not disappear entirely from Denmark; private companies will offer services, though PostNord’s 1,500 red mailboxes are being removed. PostNord, formed from a 2009 merger of the Danish and Swedish postal services, will for now continue letter services in Sweden, where letter volumes have declined by less than the 90 per cent slump since 2000 in its super-digitalised neighbour.Some may shrug at the latest victim of digital technology, which has, after all, already largely killed off more recently invented means of communication such as telegrams or payphones. Letters, though, have played a central role in the making of the modern world. The first traces of written interpersonal messages date from almost 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, linked to trade transactions.The need to carry letters was a big driver for creating scheduled transport links between towns and cities. The scourge of mail theft — by postal staff or by highwaymen — led to the foundation of some of the first national law enforcement agencies.Before the mass media age, the French polymath Blaise Pascal and others transformed letters from personal communication into polemics aimed at kindling debate. (Nodding both to the merits of brevity and the artistry of letter-writing, Pascal famously once apologised for writing a long letter only “because I have not had the time to make it shorter”). Some classic novels have been composed entirely in epistolary form. And letters became pivotal literary devices: think of the fatefully undelivered note to Shakespeare’s Romeo explaining that Juliet is not dead but in drug-induced sleep, or Cyrano de Bergerac winning Roxane’s heart through letters ostensibly from the dashing but less articulate Christian.There are other reasons to rue the letter’s slow demise — including the potential loss to historians, biographers and archives. Letters convey personality and motivations, offering a contemporary record of events without the distortions of hindsight or edited memoirs. The deceased in future may leave behind troves of electronic correspondence. Compared with today’s popular Letters Live charity events, though, where actors read out remarkable letters of the past, it is hard to see future audiences being as enthralled by live readings of WhatsApp messages.Neither do emails elicit the same pleasure as a handwritten thank-you note, or love letter — or match the anxious thrill of tearing open an envelope containing exam results or a job offer. Heads of organisations at this time of year must weigh the chore of hand-signing a stack of holiday cards against the convenience, but impersonality, of pressing send on a batch of e-greetings. Not many of today’s young lovers seem likely to write billets-doux by hand, then scan them to send electronically. It is gratifying, though, to see organisations still choosing to send formal missives as signed documents with letterheads, via email attachments.No one will lament the replacement of mailed-out bills by electronic and phone notifications — which have taken over in Denmark. But even if the physical delivery of letters is dying out, the form deserves to live on.Reuse this content (opens in new window) CommentsJump to comments sectionPromoted Content Follow the topics in this article The editorial board Add to myFT The FT View Add to myFT Denmark Add to myFT Comments